2/21/2024 Preliminary schedule 21. 2. Introductory information and formalities. General recommendations 28. 2. No lecture, Individual work - Mind map preparation 6. 3. 1st PPT presentation (mind maps), Notes on literature review 13. 3. No lecture, Individual work on literature review 20.3. Library visit, intro to academic skills. 27. 3. Typical structure of master thesis 3. 4. Presentation of Dept. of Geography students 10. 4. 2nd PPT presentation on literature review (state of the art) 17. 4. No lecture, Individual work on data collection 24. 4. 3rd PPT presentation on data collection, available data sources Confirmation of Master thesis (MT) assignment Close cooperation with the MT supervisor is expected during the whole semester Regular feedback to supervisor, timely solution of all possible problems Three short (10 minutes each) presentations on the MT progress Next semesters Diploma seminar II. - focused on advanced academic skills and scientific presentation Diploma seminar III. - regular review of MT progress MUNI SCI 1 Introductory information and formalities • The content and form of master (diploma) theses are determined by special rules (Instructions for elaboration of bachelor's, diploma and rigorous theses at the Faculty of Science of MU - Dean's measures, Instructions of the Institute of Geography). • The scope of the MT (i.e. without title pages and appendices) is not allowed exceed the scope specified in the assignment (usually 80 pages for a diploma thesis). The thesis is submitted: • with the approval of the supervisor (granting credit to IS MU), • in electronic form via IS MU (Thesis Archive), • voluntarily as printed and bound in hardcover in one copy to the commission for State examination (work will be stored in the Central Library after the defense), • the deadline for submitting the work is governed by the schedule of the relevant academic year. MUNI SCI Introductory information and formalities For each thesis, the fulfillment of the requirements resulting from the assignment of the thesis is evaluated primarily: • scientific level, formal and linguistic arrangement, • quality and aesthetics of level. Defense of thesis is integral part of the final state examination What You should prove with the diploma (scientific) work: • the ability to scientifically research the chosen topic • the ability to independently process the given issue • the ability to create a scientific report (to communicate in writing) • the ability to present work and defend it (to communicate orally) MUNI SCI Introductory information • The diploma thesis completes the relevant stage of university studies. • The purpose of this work is verify the student's ability to work independently and apply the knowledge gained during the course of study. • It is a systematic activity, a sequence of a number of partial actions, leading from the assignment of work only after formulating new findings and documenting them. • Mastering the concept and editing of this, as a rule, the student's first major scientific elaborate gives certain prerequisites for a successful continuation in the publishing activity. MUNI SCI Caution note on the use of Al tools Al-based applications should be primarily used when fulfilling study obligations as an auxiliary tool. They can serve well, for example, to check grammar and stylistics, to proposals for Othe structure of the text, but they can also be used as an aid to stylistic reformulation of the text, to improve readability and clarity, to formulate a summary of longer passages of the text, such as help in processing searches or searching for sources of published information, etc. OAI tools are not recommend to for direct formulation of your own text, or to generate conclusions, arguments, findings or statements contained in the text, which should be formulated by the author independently. MUNI SCI Caution note on the use of Al tools • The Al tools are not meant to replace the information available in the original sources, with theirs however, they can help by searching. • Fulfillment of a study task of the type of written work should be based mainly on the data and information that the student searches for in the original sources, when it is possible to refer to the used source or clearly refer to its author. • It must be emphasized that the author is solely responsible for the way of using and referring to the use of Al tools given work. Do not forget that your work will be checked against plagiarism Do not forget that your work will be publicly accessible after a successful defense MUNI SCI START 2. General recommendation. How to start? Adapted from MUNI A complete guide to writing a master's thesis - Oxbridge Editing SCI 2.1 Start with a plan (and stick to it) m i Carefully check the assignment of Your MT and reconsider your research proposal Think carefully about whether the individual points of assignment are realistic and achievable, Communicate with supervisor Make sure that you ask supervisor questions about their expectations throughout the thesis writing process. Will they want to see drafts of your chapters as they're written? If the answer is yes, finding out these dates will help you to develop a plan to achieve this without scrambling at the last minute. Set yourself a goal of doing a little bit each day/week/month. Time runs very fast! Make sure that your plan is flexible, and allows time for dealing with unexpected circumstances (e.g. data availability) MUNI SCI 2.1 Start with a plan (and stick to it) • Set yourself milestones: a realistic plan for writing certain chapters by certain dates. • Then within these milestones, commit to writing an amount of words per day, or per week. • Then be disciplined and stick to your plan. • Avoiding procrastination isn't easy, but will very much work in your favour in the long run. Writing: Leave yourself some of time to edit your draft texts, remove sections that aren't working, and add more words that strengthen the overall assignment. MUNI SCI 2.1 Start with a plan (and stick to it) Mind maps can be a useful tool for planning the basic steps of a thesis Books Websites \ Closing Paragraph Brief Summary \ Assertive Statement of the presented argument J Conclusion Essay Plan Topic Sentence Evidence Introduction Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Thesis Statement Brief Overview Topic Sentence Evidence lopic Sentence Evidence Paragraph 3 Source: https://www.edrawsoft.com/article/use-mind-ma p-for-essav-writing.html MUNI SCI Taskl Create the mind map of Your master (diploma) thesis • Go clock-wise direction around the main aim in the center. • Define individual steps (milestones) • Try to be as concrete as possible • Mark the steps that are clear and that can be problematic Prepare short presentation (10 minutes) Deadline: March 6, You can use a number of Internet resources: https://www.voutube.com/watch?v=wLWV0XN7Klg https://www.edrawmind.com/article/how-to-make-a-mind-map.html MUNI SCI